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March 27, 2026 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 27 March 2026

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General Debate

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artemisia

Chris Hipkins says he never got the ‘unnecessary risk’ advice on teens and Covid vaccine. This Cabinet paper shows otherwise Herald headline this morning (paywalled).

Seems Mr Hipkins did receive the myocarditis advice and it was included in a cabinet paper at the time. This issue was traversed in Mr Hosking’s interview with Minister Brown after the 7am news this morning and some very serious questions are being asked.

March has not been a good month for Mr Hipkins.
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March 27, 2026 8:03am
- Souvlaki
  
  Yes.
  Verrall & Hipkins need to be on the rack over this. Some estimated 30,000 teenagers exposed to possible risk myocarditis and death from cardiac arrythmia!
  A half decent media should hunt the sods down on this. I would be furious if I were a parent of a teenager needlessly exposed to this risk.
  What does the culturally obsessed Medical Council have to say?
  
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  March 27, 2026 8:16am
  - Yvette
    
    Souvlaki – What does the culturally obsessed Medical Council have to say?
    
    Their ‘cultural obsession’ would anticipate the Medical Council to represent greatest those at whom the risk could also be greatest: those object of the obsession. But see if words are actions …
    
    [Moderator, sorry I pressed REPORT before REPLY – but it is Friday … and a very wet Friday]
    
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    March 27, 2026 8:33am
  - Boy Geoff
    
    Be kind!
    
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    March 27, 2026 8:45am
  - R
    
    Being culturally obsessed, they are not honest enough to make a truthful statement
    
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    March 27, 2026 9:08am
  - PurplePen
    
    Ignore for a minute whether he doesn’t recall that paper. He should also answer these questions: did you seek advice on the myocarditis issue; did you know about the myocarditis issue in general in relation to the vaccine; if you didn’t seek advice why not; did you not think it was important; if you didn’t seek advice who then sought it resulting in the cabinet paper; how is it that you can’t recall advice on such a significant issue as myocarditis it was globally a significant issue in relation to the vaccine.
    
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    March 27, 2026 10:04am
    - AitchW
      
      It speaks volumes to his ability to have a deep understanding of his portfolio. Everything seems to be once over lightly on the left, can anyone name one Labour minister who can answer questions about the finer details of their portfolio on the odd occasion that a journo presses them?
      Hipkins was either woefully or deliberately ignorant of the consequences of the vaccine, neither is acceptable.
      
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      March 27, 2026 12:38pm
  - PurplePen
    
    And why didn’t the commission discover this. Did those that manage the cabinet archive not disclose papers, or was the commission incompetent. It’s not hard to have AI run over papers, and they’ll be digital making the job easier.
    
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    March 27, 2026 10:09am
    - Ghost
      
      Ummmmm
      
      Vaccine mandate advice for under-18s was not made sufficiently clear: Former Government Ministers were informed of advice against applying two-dose vaccine mandates to 12-17-year-olds due to myocarditis risks. The two-dose vaccine mandate remained, which did not align with this advice.
      Article
      
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      March 27, 2026 10:22am
  - Nikola Donatello
    
    You need to keep in mind that the risk of myocarditis from the vaccine is lower than the risk of myocarditis from COVID illness itself.
    
    I have commented in more detail on the separate post by DPF.
    
    I agree that teenagers should not have received the second shot. However the consequences relative to the counter factual are not serious.
    
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    March 27, 2026 11:53am
- Boy Geoff
  
  Why hasn’t March been a good month for Hipkins?
  
  The MSM and Labour’s social media warriors have successfully removed any doubts over Chippie being the man for the job.
  
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  March 27, 2026 8:43am
  - jkt
    
    Go Hipkins!!
    Long live your ambition …. Liability?
    
    I think his survival through to the election will sustain those who oppose him.
    
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    March 27, 2026 10:24am
  - Bullion
    
    Whatever conspiracy makes you feel better
    
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    March 27, 2026 10:32am
- Simon
  
  Why all the upticks? Vaxx to max kiwiblog posters were mad for the jax. They believed with all their might that unless as many people as possible got the jax then the jax didn’t work
  
  But here the clue is, bad month for Hipkins. It’s about points scoring against Hipkins not the insane zero covid nutjobs which swept everyone up, including many here. Shame.
  
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  March 27, 2026 9:09am
  - jkt
    
    Yeah.
    
    We were sold that story … those who questioned the wisdom from the pulpit of power were denigrated!
    
    I am surprised that you feign surprise that conservatives would not favour a scientific approach and demonstrate care for the vulnerable.
    
    Once reality set in, thinking people reject speculation. It is a conservative trait. Jonathan Haidt.
    
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    March 27, 2026 10:32am
  - Nikola Donatello
    
    What language is that?
    
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    March 27, 2026 11:54am
    - Paulus
      
      Pre Treaty of course !
      
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      March 27, 2026 2:22pm
  - artemisia
    
    Kiwiblog was one of the few widely read New Zealand sites that supported a range of views on Covid. And there certainly was a range here.
    
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    March 27, 2026 12:59pm
  - Wandering Star
    
    You really have to blame parents of teens, to some extent. How is it that the “fringe lunatics” out there like myself knew full well that 1) there was no real need for teens, of all demographics, to get the vaccine-which-didn’t-vaccinate in the first place, and 2) that the risk of damaged health from the vax exceeded the risk from Covid itself. We knew full well that only those with existing medical factors were at risk, and even then, not dramatically so. And yet, parents lined their kids up for the shot anyway, despite what the minority was telling them.
    
    And why did they do this? The dual influence of percieved authority figures telling them to, and peer pressure on pain of being a social outcast – in other words, due to nothing rational with any solidly empirical grounding.
    
    The “antivaxxers” didnt just get lucky when we were proven correct in the fullness of time, we were right all along because we observed the overseas experience and concluded from our observations
    
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    March 27, 2026 2:54pm
- amospicton
  
  This story is nowhere to be seen on Stuff. Is there any other conclusion to draw other than that they’re the propaganda wing of the Labour Party?
  
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  March 27, 2026 9:10am
  - Prince
    
    Herald front page:
    ‘Hipkins got vaccine advice, paper shows’.
    Stuff fron page:
    ‘Billionaire Jim Grenon becomes NZME’s biggest shareholder’
    followed by
    ‘Stuff’s Nadine Roberts walks through Christchurch’s New Stadium.’
    
    Clearly Stuff trying to protect their candidate.
    ‘
    
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    March 27, 2026 3:37pm
- R
  
  If you are going to tell ‘porkies’, you need to have a very good memory; or just develope a moral compass and you won’t find yourself in any embarrassing situations
  
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  March 27, 2026 9:11am
- imalwaysright
  
  I wonder if he can also explain why he and Ardern cancelled the parental rights of those with 12 year old children.
  
  Their Government decided that a 12yr old child could make their own decision to take an experimental substance.
  
  In reality the 12 yr old would have been guided by their Marxist Mum… the teacher.
  
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  March 27, 2026 9:17am
  - Nikola Donatello
    
    You are succumbing to the covid vaccine conspiracy theories.
    
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    March 27, 2026 11:56am
    - imalwaysright
      
      12 yr old children didn’t need parental consent to get the jab.
      That’s not theory.
      That’s fact.
      https://healthify.nz/medicines-a-z/c/covid-19-vaccine-in-children
      
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      March 27, 2026 12:42pm
- Paulus
  
  If it were a National Minister he or she would be gone by now, and hounded by the so called media incessantly, with Sunday paper specials of his or her sex life too.
  
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  March 27, 2026 9:22am
- RoboRob
  
  Hipkins is a liar, he knew about this and chose to ignore it. Oh and yeah I am pissed I got my teens vaxed and somewhat annoyed I got myself vaxed, as I wasn’t in the at risk category.
  
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  March 27, 2026 9:23am
  - imalwaysright
    
    The real question now is what else did he know that he hid from the public.
    
    This is extremely serious and the Police should be interviewing him right now.
    
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    March 27, 2026 10:02am
    - RichardX
      
      What law do you believe he has broken?
      
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      March 27, 2026 12:00pm
      - septic skeptic
        
        OK, let’s assume you right and no law was broken. Where does that leave us: A government minister can mandate that you get a vaccination and at the same time knowingly withhold information about the risk to you. Think about that. It’s not a hypothetical. You can’t dismiss it by saying “they would never do that, why would they”. They did. Can it happen again?
        
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        March 27, 2026 3:21pm
  - PurplePen
    
    Chronic liar.
    
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    March 27, 2026 10:06am
    - Sacha
      
      Not necessarily. He’s a politician of the variety that just goes along to get along –
      
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      March 27, 2026 10:25am
      - R
        
        No depth of substance, nor integrity. And there are still a significant number who think that he and his sycophants should be the government. Not even with Winston as leader would Labour have any credibility.
        
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        March 27, 2026 10:46am
  - Nikola Donatello
    
    Why?
    
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    March 27, 2026 11:56am
    - RoboRob
      
      Not wanting to get into a Covid vax debate but my logic is the following…
      
      Becuase my kids had almost zero risk from covid and the risk from the vax was signicantly higher to them. The similar is true for me. Fit, healthy, youngish people have a pretty low risk of complications from Covid. There are always risks of side effects from vaccines and since the vax doesn’t stop you getting Covid you are somwhat increasing your risk.
      
      Please note I was amoung the people here promoting the vaccines, based on the information available at the time. Which was things like, it gave almost 100% protection and then ‘it stopped you passing it to others’. Both of which turned out to be false. Even the ‘it reduces symptoms’ line is effectively un provable / undeniable. I have had covid when vaxed and was very sick. I have had covid unvaxxed multiple times and it has been different each time. Some worse then others. Yes I understand the virus is weaker now then early on.
      
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      March 27, 2026 4:53pm
- cmm (semi-retired edition)
  
  My bet (50 cents and a servo pie) is still on Hipkins being shanked and white-anted by his own mob.
  
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  March 27, 2026 9:26am
  - Scooter
    
    Seems more and more likely, someone wants him gone to make way for Winston. 2 bad news stories, just need a third and he’s a gone burger.
    
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    March 27, 2026 9:44am
    - R
      
      Labour aligning with Winston would be a bad news story,…..for NZ
      
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      March 27, 2026 10:47am
      - RoboRob
        
        A disaster.
        
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        March 27, 2026 11:46am
      - AitchW
        
        RR, another disaster even worse than when he fell in with Ardern.
        
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        March 27, 2026 2:55pm
    - cas
      
      A problem would be that if he hangs in until the election presenting himself as a potential PM, then Winston says I am not going into coalition with you at the helm, we will have all been deceived by not knowing who his successor might be until AFTER the election. Imagine if they picked someone like Wiley Jackson. ( Woops my typing just wrote pricked instead of picked!)
      
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      March 27, 2026 12:07pm
  - Bobba Fret
    
    What about Verrall, Hoskings said her writing was on the papers. She knew too.
    
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    March 27, 2026 9:54am
    - AitchW
      
      Hosking. No second “s”.
      You’d think that people would know that by now.
      Mind you how times was Key called Keys, usually by lefties.
      
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      March 27, 2026 12:32pm
      - David Garrett
        
        Aitch: I can assure you that it was certainly not only lefties who thought we had a PM called John Keys
        
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        March 27, 2026 4:06pm
      - AitchW
        
        DG I used to take a certain perverse pleasure to adding an “s” to Labour MPs names.
        
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        March 27, 2026 4:43pm
  - jkt
    
    I am still hopeful that Chippie will make it through to the election.
    
    This country cannot afford another Labour led government with this lot (generation) in charge.
    
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    March 27, 2026 10:43am
    - RoboRob
      
      Hipkins leading Labour is now Nationals best hope of maintaining power and not being a very unusual one term National government.
      
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      March 27, 2026 11:47am
      - jkt
        
        I can’t wait for the gossip about the next Labour leader.
        
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        March 27, 2026 12:07pm
      - AitchW
        
        JKT, McAnulty, from the scuttlebutt on line, has plenty of skeletons in his closet.
        
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        March 27, 2026 3:00pm
- Sacha
  
  We bought into the government manipulation.
  We became frightened by a bogeyman threat.
  We somehow thought that this years version of the ‘flu’, had become more deadly than last years.
  We didn’t know that it was one of the seasonal variations that brought us the ‘flu’ every winter with varying degrees of illness.
  We panicked, and Pfizer won.
  The politicians meddled in something that they had no knowledge of, and what is more – they believed the decrees of a medical ‘modeller’, and other, non-medical, influencers.
  And the medical profession abandoned us to the money-makers.|
  
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  March 27, 2026 10:16am
  - gravedodger
    
    I spare a thought for the GPs, they were under enormous pressure, threatened with having their entire career ended in an instant by deregistration.
    Just look what happened to the very few extraordinarily brave souls who raised objection, even for advising the use of “Ivermectin” an already approved drug that many believed had almost as reputable protection as the Pfizer scamdemic.
    Two Sub continent areas of India, Uttarakhand and Goa, defied WHO and others in advising the use of the drug Ivermectin with its anti viral properties long off licence so very low cost but an immediate threat to the Pfizer economic windfall.
    Was a commitment to remove Ivermectin mentioned in the oh so secret contract between that womans team and the Drug Mogul, we need to know now?
    
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    March 27, 2026 11:25am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Who’s “we”, kemo sabe?
    
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    March 27, 2026 8:14pm
Cassandra

With the 82nd and Marines heading to the ME, I thought this comment would be worth a look. Admiral James Stavridis is a friend of one my US colleagues. He warns that seizing Kharg Island would “likely be far from surgical.”

While a Marine Expeditionary Unit can theoretically do “anything,” reaching the island would require running a gauntlet of drones, missiles, mines, and swarm attacks in the Strait of Hormuz. Note that the Marines are east of the strait. Where the 82nd is is unknown. Crete? Turkey?

Occupying Kharg could provide leverage to reopen shipping lanes, but Tehran may not be easily coerced, especially if it doubts U.S. follow-through.

Significant risks, include thousands of civilians on the island, booby traps, and rising casualties. A blockade, he suggests, could deliver similar economic pressure at a lower cost.

OTOH the optics of “holding ground” are significant. But does Iran give a hoot about optics? TvNZ might but I doubt there’s much TV in Iran which isn’t vetted by the mullahs.

And another thing: NATO has reported that all members are now above 2%. NZ remains at about half that.
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March 27, 2026 8:08am
- Cassandra
  
  Actually Cyprus rather than Crete.
  
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  March 27, 2026 8:32am
- Simon
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Iran is winning. US marines or not. It was apparent after 5 days Iran was winning
  
  Israel getting chewed up in Lebanon.
  
  Iran has got this.
  
  Really funning / bad it’s apparent National thought Israel/ US were winning and governed as such. Shame on National for being utterly clueless. Shame
  
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  March 27, 2026 9:14am
  - Notsofast
    
    Iran is winning is countered by the observation that Israel and the USA are in a better position than when the war started.
    I am repeatedly encountering finding of fact that the war is a catastrophe and so on, eg academics, Rory Stewart and Alistair Campbell on the rest is politics, John Mearshimer, and all TDS patients. Israel just assassinated Alizera Tangsiri, the navy commander.
    Here is a non paywalled link not the NYT but the UK Telegraph
    
    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/irans-grip-on-the-strait-of-hormuz-has-just-weakened/SY7QLN6FOJFB3MROAFJ2XKTIFU/
    
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    March 27, 2026 12:07pm
    - Simon
      
      Keep watching the bond market. It doesn’t lie.
      
      Merica & Israel are in big trouble.
      
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      March 27, 2026 1:21pm
  - Paulus
    
    Ask Al Jezeera who is winning – they are.
    
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    March 27, 2026 2:25pm
  - Ghost
    
    shame you can’t actually form a conversation without your bizarre fascination with national. might be time you seek some help
    
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    March 27, 2026 2:31pm
- imalwaysright
  
  Why is it the Americans responsibility?
  
  The Israeli Defence Force have great experience with surgical strikes, let them do it.
  Why should American youth catch the bullets ?
  
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  March 27, 2026 9:21am
  - Simon
    
    “Why should American youth catch the bullets ?”
    
    You really dont know the answer to this question?
    
    Its because Israel controls the Trump Admin & most of the US govt
    
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    March 27, 2026 1:22pm
    - imalwaysright
      
      Yes, should have omitted the ?
      
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      March 27, 2026 6:29pm
- cmm (semi-retired edition)
  
  Yup, the SoH are the very worst place for typical American assets like carrier battle groups.
  
  A carrier battle group is typically deployed and moves in a huge formation of up to 300km in all – with the most critical inner defensive screen being about 30-40km wide.
  
  Thus, in some ways, you can think of this huge formation as one large vessel that must navigate through the water. Getting that through the SoH (only 30km wide) is impossible without breaking up the formation making it vulnerable. Hence the need to operate from hundred of km offshore.
  
  The echos of Crete are strong, but the modern battlefield is even more challenging with far better defensive tools available than then.
  
  Striking a focal point like Kharg is challenging to do cleanly. It is only 35km from the mainland and thus easy to defend from attack. That is well within MRL range (50km). These are small devastating rockets (eg. 122mm MRL rockets that can be deployed in smaller numbers off utes and trailers as well as, 40 at a time off MRLs). Those are airburst missiles that each fire out about 8000 projectiles and two of them can clear a rugby field with about a 50% casualty rate.
  
  This does not really sound like the ground you want to put boots on until the surrounding 200+km is secure.
  
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  March 27, 2026 9:50am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Yes, the Iranians aren’t the Taliban, they’ve got the big boys toys and they aren’t afraid to use them.
    
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    March 27, 2026 10:06am
    - kowtow
      
      Most of their toys are broken.
      
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      March 27, 2026 10:43am
      - AitchW
        
        But the ones they have left are still potentially devastating.
        
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        March 27, 2026 12:41pm
      - Taieri
        
        Most of their toys are broken.
        ————-
        
        But are they?
        
        It looks like both sides are facing significant depletion:
        
        https://www.dw.com/en/iran-us-israel-war-missiles-drones-strait-of-hormuz/a-76503329
        
        https://defencesecurityasia.com/en/israel-arrow3-thaad-shortage-iran-war-rusi-interceptor-crisis-2026/
        
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        March 27, 2026 12:57pm
  - alex Masterley
    
    CMM, factor in drones as well.
    The Ukranians have demonstrated the effect of drones in both land based combat and maritime combat.
    I have no doubt that the Iranians have, with their Russian bedmates, been observing with interest.
    The elements of the US fleet in the gulf and in proximity to the gulf will be targets for drone swarms if offensive opperations take place on Kargh Island or any of the island in the Hormuz straits.
    The Us fleet should be able to fend off the first drone swarm and maybe the second but what about the third or fourth when ammunition runs low/out.
    Ammunition or lack of will be defining feature. As well as the inevitable casualties.
    
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    March 27, 2026 10:31am
  - jkt
    
    That action can only work if it triggers China to tell the Iranian regime to back off.
    
    Terrorist do not back off. When they become desperate they go all in. Suicide bomber profile.
    
    Only way is to destroy Kargh Island …. only problem is, this will also be a strategic failure.😣
    
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    March 27, 2026 10:50am
    - jkt
      
      Hope is not a strategy.
      
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      March 27, 2026 12:12pm
  - R
    
    The carrier group won’t be within 300 kms of the SOH, THEY require a large area to maneuver. Indian ocean
    
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    March 27, 2026 10:51am
    - Charlotte Wells
      
      Trump renamed it the American Ocean.
      
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      March 27, 2026 4:33pm
- Master Mariner
  
  “Boots on the Ground” , Then what ?
  Kharg Island where Iranian Terminals are ??
  Just does not make any sense what so ever ?
  If they were going to land troops, The Islands directly off the coast from the SOH makes far more sense and able to somewhat defend them by moving Navy in. Think about it, Marines need transportation and are a sitting target entering SOH. No way they can get through. Islands directly South they may have a chance.
  Regardless it seems a pretty reckless and Risky idea.
  
  This is what seems the most logical explanation in the first place. for the attack on Iran and what I believe happened.
  “Former NCTC Director Explains Why He Resigned”
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xk4ZVIbGIFY
  
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  March 27, 2026 10:11am
  - Master Mariner
    
    And on Song,
    Why a Kharg Island Invasion Would Be a DISASTER
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnOc9YKIV-U
    
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    March 27, 2026 10:57am
  - Charlotte Wells
    
    It won’t be Kharg Island.
    
    You are spot on about where they will land.
    
    It will be the island witht he same name as the strait.
    
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    March 27, 2026 4:35pm
- imalwaysright
  
  “…reaching the island would require running a gauntlet of drones, missiles, mines, and swarm attacks.”
  
  So are you implying that once they are on the island the drones, missiles, and swarm attacks would no longer be threats?
  
  Are you aware of the term ‘sitting ducks’?
  
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  March 27, 2026 12:57pm
  - Charlotte Wells
    
    Are you aware of the term air defence umbrella?
    
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    March 27, 2026 4:36pm
    - imalwaysright
      
      Yes, Tel Aviv has one and it leaks.
      
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      March 27, 2026 6:35pm
- Ra Henare
  
  I find it interesting that some commenters seem to not understand that Kharg Island is a long way from teh straits of Hormuz and therefore strategically useless in opening the strait.
  
  As you correctly say. The Marine mob are east of the Strait and Kharg is a long way west. Approx 500kms. So all up the Marines ships could be under attack for 1000 kms of their invasion journey.
  
  Sadly, I see US body bags and fuel starvation OF THE WORLD being the trigger to end this stupidity.
  
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  March 27, 2026 4:53pm
Nikola Donatello

I have not looked yet. However I predict that I will find a media report today that blames the current rain event in New Zealand on climate change. I will report back. 🙂
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March 27, 2026 8:11am
- kowtow
  
  Hunga Tonga put a huge amount of water into the atmosphere.
  
  What goes up, must ………
  
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  March 27, 2026 9:00am
- Bullion
  
  If they do, it won’t be the reporter making those claims but likely they have asked prominent climate scientists from our universities or Earth Sciences New Zealand.
  
  These climate scientists would probably say these events are more likely or the amount of rainfall is likely to increase due to climate change – they may give a % figure of increase in these events happening due to climate change or % increase in rainfall due to climate change.
  
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  March 27, 2026 9:27am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Have we all forgotten how frequently Northland is hit by extreme rainfall and floods?
  
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  March 27, 2026 9:37am
  - MCōs
    
    There’s some straightforward explanations as to why that should be involving ocean temperatures, but a lot of people don’t want to listen.
    
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    March 27, 2026 10:22am
  - greybeard
    
    I was born in Dargaville and lived in the Kaihu Valley until I was 8.
    I remember the Kaihu River flooding the valley year after year, the old main road at Babylon being particularly bad.
    The whole valley at the Kaihu settlement flooded side to side. So nothing new there.
    
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    March 27, 2026 11:09am
  - AitchW
    
    Yup. I lived on the east coast just north of Whangarei in the late 70s. The one road to where we lived was regularly blocked by flood water.
    
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    March 27, 2026 12:43pm
- Notsofast
  
  March is warm, but the rain doesn’t look exceptional.
  The first is undoubtedly CO2 greenhouse effect, but CO2 is greening the planet. However, built civilization all occurred with CO2 at 250 ppm, and the sea levels accordingly. This is the existential future issue, not a balmy climate which is rather pleasant in Auckland.
  
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  March 27, 2026 12:12pm
Tomtoddy

Sir Ian Taylor has become some self-appointed public conscience commentator. Stuff and others happily cover his musings and accusations.

Today he has lined up Jim Grenon and the Herald. Grenon is a shareholder in NZME that owns the Herald. Grenon apparently funded Julian Batchelor in taking a case against TVNZ and because Batchelor makes strong statements about racism Taylor thinks the Herald should take some sort of undisclosed action against Grenon.

Taylor draws a long bow. He tries to pull together statements that he attributes to Batchelor to prove he is so devoid of integrity that Grenon was wrong to back him financially and as a result the Herald should take punitive action against Grenon.

Good gracious!! Convoluted and tenuous to say the least.

What is troublesome is that Taylor uses a number of statements that he claims were apparently made by Batchelor that were not used in the court case are not on the public record anywhere and are a clumsy, even a nasty misuse of what Batchelor has actually said.

The irony is that Batchelor (and Grenon) can use the very judicial finding used by the judge in throwing out Batchelor’s case against TVNZ – what was said maybe actionable but relies on the statement being provably truthful.
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March 27, 2026 8:21am
- Damocles11
  
  Sir Ian Taylor is cancelling his Herald subscription. I never buy the Herald is either the paper or on-line form, as I find it to be overwhelmingly biased in favour of the Left, with just one example being the far Left cartoonist Emmerson and his daily attacks on the current Coalition government.
  Taylors position seems to be that the presence of Grenon on the NZME board means that the content of The New Zealand Herald will invariably support or propose ‘racism’ against Maori. I don’t see that occurring at all. The Herald has editorial independence. Emmerson continues on his merry way. Grenon being on the NZME board is neither here nor there when it comes to the actual content of the Herald.
  Moreover, this is an attempt to cancel and dislodge Grenon. He supported Batchelor and he may have had good reason for doing so. Taylor’s view is that we should look at the lead-up to a court case via hindsight after a judgement has been made, which is an absurdity. Everyone goes into a legal case on an equal footing in the eyes of the court, nobody is pre-judged. Or at least, that’s the way it is supposed to be, in theory. Maybe Grenon thought that Batchelor was a maligned underdog with the odds stacked against him, so rendered support accordingly. Maybe Grenon thinks the New Zealand judiciary has become politicised and activist. Maybe he still does.
  Taylor seeks to get Grenon cancelled, using ‘guilt by association’. It is all part of harnessing moral panic to get political opponents cancelled and shunned. The Left are masters of it.
  
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  March 27, 2026 9:02am
  - imalwaysright
    
    If Ian Taylor cancels his subscription the other two subscribers will face a price increase of 50%…
    
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    March 27, 2026 10:27am
- Philview
  
  I recall a story on TVNZ News last year where Chris Hipkins was asked to comment about a story in the Herald. Hipkins sneered he wasn’t prepared to comment about a story in a Far Right newspaper. The Left are obviously concerned some that Grenon might bring some ideological balance to the media.
  
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  March 27, 2026 1:19pm
Cassandra

In The Australian this morning: “Donald Trump has said he was “surprised by Australia”, arguing the lack of support for his operation in Iran was “not great” and questioned whether Canberra and European allies would support America in the future.”
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March 27, 2026 8:38am
- R
  
  Australia has a Marxist sympathizing govt. Simple!
  
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  March 27, 2026 9:13am
  - RoboRob
    
    I know you are joking BUT they do have a Labour / left wing government. So yes Australia does have a Marxist sympathizing government.
    
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    March 27, 2026 10:13am
  - Cassandra
    
    Not its leadership. I think the ALP is largely non-Marxist, hence nuclear submarines etc.
    
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    March 27, 2026 10:14am
  - MCōs
    
    False accusations of Marxism are reminiscent of the medieval practice of calling out a rival as a witch
    
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    March 27, 2026 10:34am
- pb
  
  Friends of the warmongers might find “No fuel for you”
  
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  March 27, 2026 9:05pm
David Garrett

I have noticed recently that the reaction to comments criticizing Trump have become much more balanced than a month or so ago – before the man who boasted that he stopped wars instead started one. One that I believe will prove to be much worse than Iraq.

I believe Trump has dragged the world into a tar baby that may take years to get free of; a war that will affect the whole world, including us way down here. Gas prices went up 40 cents a litre yesterday; there was panic buying even out here in the sticks.
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March 27, 2026 8:38am
- Scott
  
  OR – we could note that western civilisation is winning and the hardline Muslims are losing. That Iran is getting bombed the heck out of and all of its leadership has been decimated.
  Now it’s up to the Iranian people if they want to rise up and overthrow the Mullahs. But we know that the overthrow of tyrannical govt can happen suddenly.
  
  So oil prices are not good now, that’s true. But the war has been going about 4 weeks. All we are saying is give war a chance.
  
  And look at the big picture. Venezuala has gone. Iran is on the brink. Cuba is nearly gone. Surely with the Ayatollahs gone, the Castros gone and Maduro gone then the world will be a better place?
  And we have president Donald Trump to thank for that. What a great president, best in our lifetime. 😎
  
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  March 27, 2026 8:47am
  - kowtow
    
    scott
    
    I suspect , in the west , there’s never an appetite for doing it tough and in many respects that’s very understandable. I wouldn’t want to be killed or maimed for some “cause” in a foreign field , nor want any relative to.
    
    And the idea of Berlin by Christmas , or Over by Christmas is at least 100 years old .Everyone rightly desires a quick solution with minimal pain.
    
    Here we have a war that’s been nearly 50 years in the making , against a totally nutty regime that has caused huge pain and grief across west Asia since the overthrow of the Shah, a regime literally dedicated to wiping out Israel .
    
    If the Mullahs are overthrown and a half decent regime takes over , surely that must be for the betterment of humanity.
    
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    March 27, 2026 9:54am
    - Ra Henare
      
      Nobody seems to think about the world before 1979!!
      Why did the new regime come up with that catchy phrase. Death to AMerica, Wipe Israel from teh Map.
      
      Do you honestly belive they (New Regime) woke up one morning and decided to sue those “”catchy”” phrases.
      
      Maybe some history lessons from the CIA, Mossad and MI6 since WW2 might be helpful in understanding Iran’s situation.
      
      Hint its nothing to do with Iran being a Muslim state. Refer to Indonesia which is twice the size as a Muslim state. NO military approach there as per Iran?
      
      Plus of course the wests(Read USA and Israel with its 700,000 Americans residing there) need for a bogey man to distract its population.
      
      Or The need for wars so the Military Industrial complex can make large profits from rorting the US government military contracts and real world tests of their weapons/munitions/delivery platforms.
      
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      March 27, 2026 5:09pm
  - Taieri
    
    What a great president, best in our lifetime
    ——————
    
    // missing?
    
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    March 27, 2026 10:17am
    - David Garrett
      
      Taieri: No, he believes that! Thus illustrating that it’s guys like him that have this mysterious malady TDS not people like me, who see the man as a toddler with a very limited attention span changing his mind as often as his mother once changed his nappies.
      
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      March 27, 2026 10:31am
      - Taieri
        
        No, he believes that!
        ———–
        
        I know:(
        
        Another few weeks of this war and our Little Paradise may approach the brink of collapse, when there’re no more tankers on the horizon and no more trucks on the roads. All thanks to the war started by the Greatest Peacemaker in a History. The war on a country that has never done us any real harm. And there’re still people in NZ cheering on. Unbelievable.
        
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        March 27, 2026 10:47am
      - Ghost
        
        They’re disconnected from reality.
        
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        March 27, 2026 11:08am
  - septic skeptic
    
    Here’s a link for you Scott. Enjoy Pete “we negotiate with bombs” Hegseth inspiring his minions with a prayer.
    https://youtu.be/2NrJU2aqGvQ?si=F9n1e45yxe8Pv_E2
    
    For the sane among us, take a look at that and ask if this is one guy at least in the administration who could go Nuclear at some point. Be very afraid.
    Note the main bit starts about 2.25 in if you want the TLDR version.
    
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    March 27, 2026 3:36pm
- Cassandra
  
  I think you’re right, David. Although we really don’t know – who is actually in charge in Iran, for example? – and there might be a sudden collapse there. But at present it certainly doesn’t look like the quick blitz Trump wanted. If they can open Hormuz soon then things might change. In the meantime, we have a hybrid car………..
  
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  March 27, 2026 8:55am
  - David Garrett
    
    Cass: Yes…There have already been defections among his MAGA supporters; I suspect that if he puts “boots on the ground” on Kharg Island he may face significant push back. Meanwhile the rest of the world can do nothing.
    
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    March 27, 2026 9:15am
    - Don Beckett
      
      An interesting look at Trump over the recent past:
      
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5whSphcKtEA
      
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      March 27, 2026 9:48am
      - Ra Henare
        
        Suggest you take this clip as a continuation of Tousi TV “”propoganda”” about Iran.
        
        Do your own research before you believe this version of TRUTH!!!
        
        Personally I think this guy has hitched his wagon to the Middle East conflict to get subscribers and clicks. Using his Iranian name as a claim? for expertise on things Iranian as his flag bearer.
        
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        March 27, 2026 5:22pm
    - In Vino Veritas
      
      Rest of the world can do nothing or choose to do nothing?
      
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      March 27, 2026 10:32am
      - David Garrett
        
        In vino: Well, other countries could join in…but there is clearly no appetite for that. As for NATO, I don’t think the toddler in the White House understands what a defensive alliance actually means.
        
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        March 27, 2026 11:14am
      - Drone
        
        Chooses to do nothing, very few countries have condemned the USA or Israel over the wars in the ME. Pretty much the whole world is suffering from the threat of shortages of one kind or another.
        
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        March 27, 2026 12:48pm
      - Charlotte Wells
        
        ” don’t think the toddler in the White House understands what a defensive alliance actually means.”
        
        Just like that you confirm your TDS. Still, it’s milder than your usual insults.
        
        If you had bothered to put any thought to it you would have realised that he was referring to the individual nations that make up NATO. None of them stepped up.
        
        You need to take a step back from calling him deranged and the village idiot and turn that mind of yours to the possibility that he is a lot smarter than you give him credit for. In fact he is probably a lot smarter individually based on life achievements.
        
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        March 27, 2026 5:27pm
      - In Vino Veritas
        
        To David. I can’t recall the exact number, but in terms of just Americans, I think it’s around 700 have been killed by Iran directly or by Irans proxies. What number of dead Americans exactly, does the American Government have to accept before they decide they are being attacked?
        
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        March 27, 2026 10:42pm
- RoboRob
  
  It is possible to like trump but disagree with some of his policies, such as Tarrifs or the war in Iran. To me it is the TDS people who often make the most outrageous and unbalanced posts.
  
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  March 27, 2026 9:33am
  - MCōs
    
    Apart from Trump himself on his own social media outlet
    
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    March 27, 2026 1:48pm
  - septic skeptic
    
    This is a guy who apparently has swapped out daily intelligence briefing for a two minute video showing the biggest and best explosions from the last 48 hours.
    You can just picture the guys assembling it. Here’s a good one “two missiles hit a girls school dead centre” Oh wait, better not put that one in. If it’s not included he can claim “I know nothing about that” when asked.
    
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    March 27, 2026 3:45pm
    - Charlotte Wells
      
      Any proof of that or is it just another bit of made-up bullshit?
      
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      March 27, 2026 5:29pm
  - Hard Cheese
    
    It’s possible to like a guy who is mentioned more than 30,000 times in the Epstein files?
    
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    March 27, 2026 5:33pm
- cmm (semi-retired edition)
  
  This is not going to be a WW3.
  Impossible.
  
  If you are a student of history you will know that Americans only join world wars – reluctantly – at half time.
  
  Therefore if the Yanks are in at the beginning it won’t be a WW.
  
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  March 27, 2026 9:53am
  - kowtow
    
    The old anti American trope of “late to the party’ which always ignores the fact that the USA is a long standing democracy , and administrations electorally have to bring the people along with them when doing big stuff like wars .
    
    1914 was a European affair . Britain only got involved with France because it couldn’t afford to fight Germany alone at a later date without the Frogs. Up to 1914 that war could as easily been between Fr and Britain.
    The Germans stupidly dragged the US in by sinking their ships , giving them the excuse they needed to come in.
    
    As to 1939 , again the US public weren’t interested in Europe , why would they be .Everyone conveniently or stupidly forgets the administration considered China to be their place of concern and that’s why the oil embargo was on , leading to the attack on Pearl. If the US Christian left weren’t obsessed with China , Pearl might never have happened and idiot Adolf might never have declared war , stupidly, on the US giving the war monger Roosevelt the excuse he needed to take the US into a European war not of its own choosing.
    
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    March 27, 2026 10:12am
    - Scott
      
      Kowtow, so it’s the Christian left that is responsible for World War 2 and their obsession with China. Who knew? That really is a very original summation of WW2 that I’ve never heard before?
      And Roosevelt was the war monger? Not Hitler. He was driven to war by the evil Roosevelt?
      
      So Roosevelt was the bad guy, Hitler was the good guy, the real villains were the Christians?
      
      [Mod – just debate topics, there is no need for this]
      
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      March 27, 2026 11:14am
      - Scott
        
        And there’s me thinking I was being funny? 😎
        
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        March 27, 2026 2:29pm
      - kowtow
        
        scott
        
        You don’t get nuance ?
        
        Where did I say AH was a good guy or the Xtians bad.
        
        As with the colonists coming here in the 1840’s much was down to missionary activity in the preceding decades , likewise the US involvement in China . The Americans saw China as “theirs” from a Christian missionary point of view .Its a simple fact .
        
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        March 27, 2026 2:52pm
      - Ra Henare
        
        Scott. Humour and sarcasm are not allowed in the comments when refering to other comments.
        //
        
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        March 27, 2026 5:25pm
    - TripeWryter
      
      Kowtow:
      Britain had no intention of going to war with Germany in 1914.
      Belgium was the Germans’ open pathway into France. The Kaiser’s generals had reckoned they could knock out France in six before turning east to deal with Cousin Nicky’s Russian hordes.
      There were no defences on the French border and so the French army could be outflanked. Paris next.
      Belgium was no-one’s enemy. Belgium was harmless and neutral and that neutrality Britain and Germany had guaranteed since 1839.
      Mother England, which had been content to let the Continentals bicker among themselves, found herself being dragged into the quagmire.
      Little Little Belgium, soon to be hurrah!-ed throughout the world as ‘Brave Little Belgium’, was being invaded.
      The British Government, after much earnest and pious hand-wringing, finally warned Germany to get its goose-stepping army out of Little Little Belgium. They reminded Berlin of the Treaty of London, of 1839, which both Powers had signed.
      The German Chancellor, Bethmann-Hollweg, replied to the British Ambassador that he couldn’t believe London was going to war over a ‘chiffon de papier’ (a scrap of paper).
      
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      March 27, 2026 12:25pm
      - sungsamning
        
        Antwerp is a large natural harbor, which can easily accommodate a large fleet. That’s why the UK wanted Belgium to stay neutral. Antwerp in hostile hands would mean an unaffordable RN budget.
        
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        March 27, 2026 2:43pm
      - Paulus
        
        In fact the pople of Britain in the joining of WWI became embroiled by the lies told to the people – whereby in those days the Newspapers, as the only method of communication to the people, as were God, Truth and Law.
        When the owners (still family) of the Daily Mail told headline lies, (inclding an early main one) that British troops did not have any ammunition – which was a real lie, and caused a panic, combined with the Times, did the people realise that due to pure personality dislike of the Prime Minister and some Cabinet Members, that they forced Britain into the war – with lies which still perpetrated in Britain still today.
        
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        March 27, 2026 2:55pm
      - Scott
        
        Paulus –
        Gosh we have some world War 1 revisionism now?
        If I recall the history books correctly Britain went to war in Europe to stop German domination of the continent. They were against Europe being dominated by a single power. Hence their fight against Napoleon many decades earlier.
        
        Also if I remember my history correctly the decision for Germany to mobilise its army triggered the war as the German army plan was to go through Belgium and strike an overwhelming blow against France. Defeat France and then turn their attention to Russia. So once the German army mobilised and went into Belgium then Britain’s response was inevitable.
        
        I think the decision for Britain to go to war was more about that, than what the Daily Mail may have printed, correctly or incorrectly?
        
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        March 27, 2026 3:34pm
      - David Garrett
        
        Tripe: I am just being pedantic – a bad habit of mine – but it was plucky little Belgium…otherwise your WW I history is spot on.
        
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        March 27, 2026 4:18pm
  - Taieri
    
    This is not going to be a WW3.
    Impossible.
    ————-
    
    On the contrary. It is very possible. And it doesn’t even need to be a war resembling WW1 or WW2.
    
    There’s a multitude of options without a need to exchange an actual fire to defeat the other side. Declare force majeure on exports of vital products that will cause the collapse of an economy. Destroy a major LNG or oil production facilities to start a chain reaction.
    
    Already a number of countries are resorting to the autarky economics – swap Australian LNG for Singaporean diesel, swap NZ food for the same and so on. What would happen if the biggest factory in the world aka the PRC was to stop its exports and imports overnight? How long would NZ or Australia survive? And not just NZ or Australia?
    
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    March 27, 2026 11:07am
    - MCōs
      
      WWI wasn’t strictly a world war . It was basically a European war. We were only involved because, along with numerous other countries, we were part of the British Empire and for our trouble used as glorious cannon fodder
      
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      March 27, 2026 2:07pm
      - kowtow
        
        What part of Samoa is in Europe.
        
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        March 27, 2026 2:36pm
      - Taieri
        
        WWI wasn’t strictly a world war
        ———-
        
        It was. Apart from the British (and French) Colonies (with the British Raj being the largest component), Empire of Japan was heavily involved right from the beginning on the Entente side. Mainly Asian power, the Ottoman Empire was on the Central side.
        
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        March 27, 2026 3:58pm
      - David Garrett
        
        MCos: you are about half right (as Harry Truman apparently liked to say)….You are forgetting the role of Japan – on the side of the allies in WW I – and of course the US, when they finally came to the party in 1917. Then there were the German colonies in Africa – most of which they lost at Versailles – and Samoa in the Pacific which became our only colony.
        
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        March 27, 2026 4:23pm
      - Charlotte Wells
        
        From 1914 to 1939, the conflict was known as “The Great War” or sometimes the “European War”.
        
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        March 27, 2026 5:32pm
- Master Mariner
  
  I believe this too DG.
  I can not see any sunlight in 2 years from this total Fiasco that is still unwinding.
  
  On another note.
  Small Countries like NZ should have a Neutral Foreign Policy and not get wound up with the latest mis adventures of the Day.
  I see Ukraine has attacked Russian Refineries and estimated 30-40 % reduction in exports in the Baltic.
  Yep throw Billions more at a Comic that will go down in History as destroying his people.
  
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  March 27, 2026 10:21am
  - kowtow
    
    ‘Yep throw Billions more at a Comic that will go down in History as destroying his people.’
    
    Nonsense . The Ukr’s are using science to the max . Drones by the thousands to defeat the Russian meat wave tactics .Putin is the man who is destroying his “people” , economy and society .
    
    The danger is that Ukr does not get the support it needs and yes that includes Trump , bigly.
    
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    March 27, 2026 11:00am
    - Master Mariner
      
      Ok, Drones just wiped out a Major Oil Hub in Russias Baltics. 40% Russian Oil gone.
      Who is supplying / Operating these drones ? Ukranians ?
      Just when there is a War in ME. They are not targeting Russia/ They are targeting the Worlds Energy ( Supplied by Russia).
      In addition using underwater Drones to target Russian Tankers in the Baltic ( Again).
      This is not winning the war but merely Prolonging it.
      
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      March 27, 2026 12:56pm
      - NothingLeft
        
        Yes Ukraine, they’ve developed the long range drones and are now building something like 3-400 a day, now exceeding Russian drone production. Ukraine just wants an end to the war – that is seeing 1-200 of their countrymen killed daily.
        
        Putin has megalomaniacal dreams of Russian Empire, wanting to be remembered like Peter the Great. He knows that he will likely be deposed if the war ends in a loss, so only way Ukraine has of ending attritional war with a much larger nuclear armed superpower is by wrecking their economy – which has signs of being close – in last few weeks Putin has shut down mobile internet and Telegram messaging app because the people are getting more and more rebellious as their economy crashes and the death toll mounts with no progress to note in conquering Ukraine (in fact Ukraine has been taking back territory in last month or two).
        
        On this trajectory, with ever increasing long range drone production financed by Europe Ukraine will eventually wreck enough Russian infrastructure to ‘win’. Likely this year or next, as Russia runs out of money and civil unrest grows.
        
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        March 27, 2026 6:01pm
- jkt
  
  The ability of the American armed forces is cool to observe.
  I think the American forces will capture Kargh. But, then, what?
  
  Hope is not a strategy. It does feel … deja vu. Been there, done that …. Then what?
  
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  March 27, 2026 12:20pm
  - Don Beckett
    
    I’m getting the distinct impression that invasion of Kargh island is a red herring. More like capture the immediate area of land in the SW of Iran – say a 200 km perimeter – that controls the SoH; that’s where the US naval buildup would be the most effective.
    And support the Kurds already massing on the Iraq/Iran border to invade. They are champing at he bit to do so, supported by a very large swath of the Iranian population.
    
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    March 27, 2026 1:26pm
    - kowtow
      
      No matter what the Kurds do , they’ll be betrayed , by one side or the other.And yes that includes the USA.
      
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      March 27, 2026 2:24pm
      - Master Mariner
        
        Yep History repeats.
        
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        March 27, 2026 5:55pm
    - Charlotte Wells
      
      The troops will land on Hormnuz island.
      
      It is strategically located and can control the Straits.
      
      It will be a base from which troops will control the southern shores of Iran.
      
      It will also be a launching pad for the uprising.
      
      By taking mormuz Iland the US will control the passage of oil through the strait.
      
      Kharg island is not important.
      
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      March 27, 2026 4:51pm
- David Garrett
  
  …and the commenters have proved my argument: 19 upticks and 17 downticks…effectively 50/50.
  
  A month or so ago the tally would have been very very different – perhaps 5-10 up, and 25-30 down. The penny is dropping – at least for the brighter Trumpists.
  
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  March 27, 2026 4:10pm
Swifty

UK man gets it:

https://x.com/newstart_2024/status/2037221794755522945?s=46

I remember how it once was…..
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March 27, 2026 8:40am
- MCōs
  
  I remember when I was in the UK fifty years ago
  Black chaps like him didn’t get a look in, so I don’t know what period he was talking about
  Nigerians, Pakistanis, West Indians, didn’t matter where you were born the poms I knew just wanted them out of the country.
  
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  March 27, 2026 10:44am
  - kowtow
    
    Odd that , given the Nigerians , Pakistanis and West Indians wanted the Poms out of their countries.
    
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    March 27, 2026 11:02am
  - Swifty
    
    Don’t grizzle to me if you chose to hang around with the wrong crowd in the UK.
    
    You should have picked better company.
    
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cntvEDbagAw
    
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    March 27, 2026 12:06pm
  - mogg
    
    You have told us before about your time in London and the overwhelming level of racism you experienced amongst the locals. Well you are not the only person who lived in UK and London at that time and from my experience I would say [Mod – no need for that]
    
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    March 27, 2026 4:17pm
peterwn

Stuff is closing its printing works in Petone and presumably will fly the Post up from Christchurch for local delivery. Why not go the whole hog and make it the Press-Post?
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March 27, 2026 9:00am
- kowtow
  
  Piss pot.
  
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  March 27, 2026 9:03am
- Blog-aholic
  
  They are well past that. They are Post Press……….
  
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  March 27, 2026 9:17am
- rouppe
  
  Goodness me.
  
  Think of the emissions!
  
  This from the same crowd that keeps telling us we’re about to die from climate change.
  
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  March 27, 2026 9:20am
  - RoboRob
    
    100%
    
    Flying tons of paper to Wellington each day is terrible for emisions.
    
    12 0
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    March 27, 2026 10:00am
    - kowtow
      
      Do we still make paper .
      Given the de industrialisation and huge power prices ( energy transition) foisted on us by the uniparty and all those clever university , ngo types.
      
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      March 27, 2026 11:04am
    - Paulus
      
      The only flying emissions will be the truth !
      
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      March 27, 2026 2:59pm
- Positan
  
  Between them they share 75-80% of the same articles.
  
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  March 27, 2026 9:23am
  - amospicton
    
    And 100% of the same woke mediocrity.
    
    16 2
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    March 27, 2026 9:32am
  - peterwn
    
    Perhaps they could print two editions with equal national content and layout but with a few pages each of local content.
    
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    March 27, 2026 11:15am
- imalwaysright
  
  They should air drop it about 1.5km south of Moa Point…
  
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  March 27, 2026 9:25am
- MCōs
  
  There’s probably spare capacity on presses up and down the country to print papers as digital papers take over.
  
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  March 27, 2026 10:00am
  - peterwn
    
    That may be why they are closing Petone. As it is Stuff and NZME swap printing capacity eg for local and Sunday papers.
    
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    March 27, 2026 11:18am
    - Jack5
      
      Allied Press, owner of the “Otago Daily Times,” prints that newspaper, a swag of community free papers in the South Island, and Stuff’s “Southland Times”.
      
      Print newspapers are stuck between, on one hand, the cost of printing and paper, and on the other hand, costs of distribution. Typically, economise on one and the cost of the other rises.
      
      Often overlooked is the pressure print advertising now faces.
      
      Not only competition for viewers and readers from the Internet, TV, and radio, but changes to advertisng revenue from the rise of national retail chains. Local retailers’ advertising and “personal ads” and similar were good earners for newspapers.
      
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      March 27, 2026 1:08pm
Poppax8

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/audrey-young-interviews-vanushi-walters-the-mp-who-wants-to-be-our-next-foreign-minister/premium/FVKEYUGXNJAPDFSQIQ5KFGMXZE/

Just what we need as a Foreign Minister. An activist who has been in leftie politics all her adult life. Up there with Mahuta.
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March 27, 2026 9:05am
- Notsofast
  
  Interesting article. She remembers Zimbabwe as the bread basket of Africa, which was due to it being colonised.
  Then we see what decolonisation looks like.
  There appears a conundrum for her to address before she rails extensively on the sanctity of international law.
  
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  March 27, 2026 12:28pm
O C Smith

MSM frequently reports that Hipkins has more support than Luxon when the question is “Who do you want for PM”. A secondary question should also be asked “Hiplins or Luxon?” as they are the only two who currently would become PM.
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March 27, 2026 9:32am
- RoboRob
  
  I am no fan of Luxon but I would certainly choose him of Hipkins. So I expect the poll results would be significantly different. Perhaps DPF could pop that on his next poll?
  
  It would be a good general Left / Right indicator and probably a good indicator for the outcome of the next election.
  
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  March 27, 2026 10:19am
- Bullion
  
  Questions asking favourability have Luxon performing worse as well.
  
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  March 27, 2026 11:00am
Burtland

sign of things to come …

CEO of Air Canada called to resign for not apologizing in French for LaGuardia crash

hope our CEOs are taking te reo maori lessons

https://financialpost.com/transportation/airlines/quebec-pension-fund-caisse-air-canada-ceos-video-carney
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March 27, 2026 9:32am
- rouppe
  
  My reply would be: “Seriously? After a tragic event such as this, your first reaction is to complain that I apologised in English?”
  
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  March 27, 2026 10:03am
  - OlderChas
    
    Whilst the deaths are tragic, and ok maybe the ATCs were understaffed and under stress, but why did the fire truck driver not at least look left and right to see if there was just maybe a huge aircraft with large very bright landing lights on approaching at maybe 120kph?
    
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    March 27, 2026 11:59am
    - Ghost
      
      look before crossing the runway should be basic common sense and training.
      
      3 1
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      March 27, 2026 1:00pm
- kowtow
  
  Talking of apologies and how perverse things have become.
  
  ‘Loyola University Chicago’s student newspaper is facing backlash for apologizing for its coverage of freshman Sheridan Gorman’s murder — because editors labeled the alleged murderer an “illegal immigrant.” ‘
  
  https://nypost.com/2026/03/25/us-news/loyolas-student-newspaper-issues-apology-over-sheridan-gorman-story/
  
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  March 27, 2026 10:48am
  - Ghost
    
    “No human’s existence is illegal, and we quickly changed our wording to reflect that,” the editor’s note continued.
    
    Goodbye USA, you cannot be saved
    
    3 6
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    March 27, 2026 11:13am
  - peterwn
    
    Loyola is a private Catholic (Jesuit) university (the name is an immediate giveaway). If the protest is internal or from the wider Roman Catholic Church, that is fine – everyone else should mind their own business.
    
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    March 27, 2026 11:24am
    - kowtow
      
      ‘everyone else should mind their own business.’
      
      Really?
      
      Then we are all but islands.
      
      For whom the bell tolls.
      
      No man is an island,
      Entire of itself.
      Each is a piece of the continent,
      A part of the main.
      If a clod be washed away by the sea,
      Europe is the less.
      As well as if a promontory were.
      As well as if a manor of thine own
      Or of thine friend’s were.
      Each man’s death diminishes me,
      For I am involved in mankind.
      Therefore, send not to know
      For whom the bell tolls,
      It tolls for thee.
      
      7 1
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      March 27, 2026 11:37am
      - greybeard
        
        That is a wonderful poem, and it really makes one think.
        
        But at the same time you could ask yourself: if someone in a far-off land takes it upon themself to do a terrible deed, are you really part of that action?
        
        “Each man’s death diminishes me,
        For I am involved in mankind.”
        
        There is no suggestion of blame or obligation in this poem, just that we are all parts of an immense and everchanging network and what happens to, or is done by, someone else in that network could well affect us. Or be done by us.
        
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        March 27, 2026 6:08pm
Master Mariner

Iran Grants Malaysian Vessels Safe Passage Through Strait of Hormuz
https://www.marinelink.com/news/iran-grants-malaysian-vessels-safe-537361
Too a lot of Muslim Malaysians , The Ayatollah was a “Spritual Leader”. I hope NZ can get Fuel from there refineries?
And what was obviously going to happen,
https://www.marinelink.com/news/asian-buyers-rush-russian-oil-amid-supply-537368
Not sure about Singapore and South Korea ( Where we get most refined products).
There is an estimated 30/40% of terminals ( Oil/Gas) in GCC wiped out. This is years in repairs to regain normal capacity. Mostly Gas terminals etc in Qatar etc.
What is NZ doing ?, Where is plan A,B and C.
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March 27, 2026 9:33am
- RoboRob
  
  If Malaysia can get oil through the strait that means they are not buying oil from someone else, which means that oil is available for Singapore to buy. So good for Malaysia (a Muslim country) and good for us.
  
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  March 27, 2026 9:59am
  - RoboRob
    
    Oh and do people realise how close Malaysia is to Singapore? Johor Baru as a drive across the bridge between the countries and home of large refineries. It would be easy for Malaysia to ‘flick’ Singapore some oil too.
    
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    March 27, 2026 10:22am
    - kowtow
      
      Crazy really , these once third world countries that our forefathers fought and died in ( to keep free from communism) are now more ‘energy smart” than we are and our betters’ obsession with carbon makes us reliant on them to keep our standard of living , indeed our civilisation , ticking over.
      
      Nuts.
      ,
      
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      March 27, 2026 11:09am
    - Paulus
      
      Does not Malaysia get much of its water from Singapore through a pipeline ?
      
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      March 27, 2026 3:05pm
      - fightingtemeraire
        
        Other way round
        
        0 0
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        March 27, 2026 5:49pm
      - Master Mariner
        
        Nope other way around.
        Plus purifying plants for Human waste.
        
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        March 27, 2026 5:59pm
  - peterwn
    
    I think NZ is already a customer of Malaysian refineries. So if Malaysia can get more crude because of its Muslim status, that would help NZ.
    
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    March 27, 2026 11:28am
    - Jack5
      
      Malaysia warns Australia fuel supply may be disrupted, and Malaysia is Australia’s top supplier (sorry just a snippet before pay walled):
      
      https://www.afr.com/policy/foreign-affairs/australia-s-top-crude-supplier-warns-of-fuel-export-risk-20260319-p5prcv
      
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      March 27, 2026 1:57pm
- lifesgood
  
  So the Strait is not mined then.
  
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  March 27, 2026 11:15am
  - Don Beckett
    
    There would be a safe passage channel.
    
    3 3
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    March 27, 2026 1:30pm
    - Stu2
      
      Correct
      
      It is far closer to the Iranian coast than the usual channels
      
      1 0
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      March 27, 2026 2:51pm
    - Don Beckett
      
      Actually, latest reports state that the Strait is not mind at all – that Iran imposes its closure because it has sufficient missiles to threaten any ships, and lets through those ships from countries favourable to theIranian leadership.
      It appears that the US is considering taking the Iran controlled island of Abu Musa which is quite close to the UAE, and is actually claimed by them as UAE territory, which would give them clear water between the island & UAE mainland, & make shipping passage much safer & easier.
      
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      March 27, 2026 3:27pm
- peterwn
  
  The Government is currently working on the supply chain and such work would be a serious state secret. At least the Government is doing something about it, unlike Labour who would not have a clue what to do.
  
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  March 27, 2026 11:31am
  - Taieri
    
    unlike Labour who would not have a clue what to do
    ————
    
    Quite. But Labour is not in power and at least for now doesn’t need to know what to do.
    But seriously, the country’s energy policy should be bipartisan. We all need to eat and otherwise function, regardless of our political preferences.
    
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    March 27, 2026 11:40am
    - Paulus
      
      Its only bi-partisan whereby Labour gets its way.
      
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      March 27, 2026 3:07pm
- Graeme Hall
  
  Iranian negotiators have promised to let 10 tankers through the Strait as a gift to President Trump and a gesture of their credibility and seriousness.
  
  In the meantime A10 Warthogs and Apache attack Helicopters are scouring the landscape wiping out threats. Iran is helpless to stop them.
  
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  March 27, 2026 2:00pm
  - Master Mariner
    
    Jesus, Righto //
    
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    March 27, 2026 6:01pm
rouppe

Another “teen takover”, this time in Chicago.

I looked at the X video in the link.

Those involved are overwhelmingly black.

The video was posted by “Libs of Chicago”. I wonder whether this sort of event is being organised by Liberals/Democrats like the ICE protests are?
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March 27, 2026 9:36am
- rouppe
  
  And then I come across this article.
  
  “The most effective propaganda looks like moral activism,” said Snow. “It often arrives disguised as citizen activism. My advice: Follow the money, identify the sponsors.
  
  “Propaganda in the 21st century rarely travels through governments alone. It travels through movements,” said Snow.
  
  Interesting…
  
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  March 27, 2026 9:59am
Hugh Jarse

Will the new Labour leader be McAnulty or Sepuloni or someone else ?
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March 27, 2026 9:44am
- RoboRob
  
  Tova
  
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  March 27, 2026 9:59am
  - imalwaysright
    
    I hope tvnz has decided not to make her co host of breakfast.
    The current interim woman is a breath of fresh air and its now watchable yet still biased.
    Tova taking over will be like salt on the cornflakes.
    
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    March 27, 2026 10:13am
    - RoboRob
      
      The current woman is still a hard leftiest and you can watch her eyes roll when any right wing prespective is discussed. I blieve Tova is set to appear soon in a totally re formatted and shorter show. Some sort of finance show on earlier.
      
      My workmate got so sick of the TVNZ Breakfast show he now watches …. Al jazera!!!! He finds it less biased on non middle eastern news. I think hes mad.
      
      8 4
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      March 27, 2026 10:26am
      - MCōs
        
        I’ve only watched enough TV1 over breakfast to know there’s an awful lot of flim flam.
        I like local TV that gets out there and sticks it to the politicians, no matter who they are, asks serious, well researched, questions and expects meaningful responses.
        
        5 1
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        March 27, 2026 1:06pm
- Burtland
  
  “come home jacinda and save us”
  
  4 4
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  March 27, 2026 10:11am
- OlderChas
  
  Jack Tame?
  
  4 2
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  March 27, 2026 12:01pm
- Paulus
  
  My money is on Camilla Belich and her husband,
  Andrew Kirton who currently is a New Zealand business executive, lobbyist and politician. He was general secretary of the New Zealand Labour Party from 2016 to 2018, campaign manager for the Labour Party in the 2017 general election, and chief of staff to prime minister Chris Hipkins in 2023.
  
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  March 27, 2026 3:10pm
David Garrett

I am finding the site extremely slow to load this morning…is that happening to others?
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March 27, 2026 9:48am
- Hugh Jarse
  
  Not so far DG but at times it’s painful.
  
  4 0
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  March 27, 2026 9:53am
- cmm (semi-retired edition)
  
  Fine for me on the mainland.
  
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  March 27, 2026 9:55am
- alex Masterley
  
  OK here in Epsom.
  
  3 0
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  March 27, 2026 10:34am
- jkt
  
  Same in Nelson
  
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  March 27, 2026 5:02pm
imalwaysright

McSkimming hasn’t paid back taxpayer money he used to hire hotel rooms to accommodate him and his girlfriend.

The Commissioner has asked him to pay up.

How about the Commissioner get in a patrol car and drive round to Jevon’s and arrest him for theft?

‘No response’: Jevon McSkimming yet to pay back taxpayer funded hotel stays during affair | RNZ News https://share.google/N2mzCgz2IxAqnRF3F
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March 27, 2026 9:49am
- David Garrett
  
  Imalways: That bastard should be in jail. I wonder if Mrs McSkimming is still sharing his bed??
  
  10 2
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  March 27, 2026 10:16am
  - Ian Boag
    
    I wonder if Mrs McSkimming is still sharing his bed
    
    I wonder what makes it any of your business
    
    2 9
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    March 27, 2026 3:15pm
    - David Garrett
      
      I didn’t say it was “my business” dickhead…last time I checked, wondering about someone’s situation was still open to me.
      
      But perhaps you think poor old Jevon was hard done by? After all, he didn’t film the filthy images himself, or sell them…
      
      5 3
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      March 27, 2026 4:28pm
      - Ian Boag
        
        Get a grip. Don’t bother telling me what I think. You are usually better than this. Calling me a dickhead is such a cutting debating point …
        
        1 3
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        March 27, 2026 7:16pm
Swifty

Not content with trying his best to import hate-filled Gazan terrorists into New Zealand, Phil Twyford sides with the Iranian terrorist mullahs as he wails about an international rules-based order.

An international rules-based order that has done not one single thing to effectively curtail Iranian Islamic terrorism throughout the Middle East, and beyond, over nearly 50 years.

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1G3pr7qVjH
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March 27, 2026 9:50am
- In Vino Veritas
  
  Twyford is always last can off the rank. He hasn’t figured the rules based order is gone. Once a drop kick, always a dropkick.
  
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  March 27, 2026 10:36am
  - Pope Punctilious II
    
    I seem to remember that dropkicking requires skill, so I’m not sure “dropkick” is the right label for the inept Twyford.
    
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    March 27, 2026 1:05pm
- R
  
  Trump is working on curtailing Iranian Islamic terrorism as we write here in KB.
  
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  March 27, 2026 11:47am
  - MCōs
    
    Well, he’s not making a very good fist of it.
    
    7 10
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    March 27, 2026 1:08pm
    - Graeme Hall
      
      Four weeks after President Trump took action, Iran is scouring the globe for new intelligent motivated leaders. Rapid promotion to the top appears certain. Age no barrier. Job comes with braided jacket and a cap.
      
      I wont apply.
      
      4 2
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      March 27, 2026 1:51pm
    - David Garrett
      
      MCos: Aint that the truth? He’s making a complete pig’s ear out of it…
      
      3 9
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      March 27, 2026 4:29pm
      - imalwaysright
        
        DG
        I’m a Trump supporter but it looks like he has picked the wrong fight.
        
        The first thing he has to do is get the Israeli government under control, they seem to consider themselves as able to do whatever they want and that America will back them. The American public are seeing this and they aren’t happy about sending their taxes and kids to pay for and die in a conflict that they don’t believe in.
        
        America’s real threat is the number of bad guys who entered illegally under Biden.
        
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        March 27, 2026 4:55pm
      - Swifty
        
        What would you have him do?
        
        0 0
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        March 27, 2026 6:04pm
- Drone
  
  Or Israeli terror organisations like Mossad who actively assasinate the leaders of other countries or the IDF which is currently erasing Gaza from history and invading Southern Lebanon,,, You can’t have it both ways…
  
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  March 27, 2026 12:55pm
  - Swifty
    
    You’ll get no complaints from me when Israel defends itself against those Islamofascists who wish their extermination.
    
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    March 27, 2026 1:39pm
- Swifty
  
  And a reminder that Egypt, Saudi, Jordan, UAE, Turkey, Kuwait, Qatar and Algeria have all refused to accept even one Gazan refugee, primarily for security reasons, but Twyford and Labour have publicly stated they want to import hundreds of not thousands.
  
  I cannot think of a policy potentially more terribly damaging to New Zealand and all for Twyford’s virtue signalling and a few votes.
  
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  March 27, 2026 7:32pm
imalwaysright

Yesterday David Seymour said to Michael Laws on the Platform that co-governance has been dealt with because Councils have been told co-governance “isn’t compulsory”. (my paraphrases)

That is totally different to “banning” co-governance.

Erica Stanford used the same logic a while ago telling school boards that they “don’t have to abide by treaty principles”.

Basically this is tacit approval of co-governance.
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March 27, 2026 10:36am
- rouppe
  
  Plus their work to remove treaty principles from legislation is nowhere to be seen
  
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  March 27, 2026 10:56am
- RoboRob
  
  Very true. Co-governance, where elected council members AND unelected IWI members, control power should be banned. It is totally undemocratic.
  
  If councils want to have two elections and voter roles (one Maori and one everyone else) thats ‘ok’* so long as the seats are proportional.
  
  * Still stupid but at least democratic if done properly.
  
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  March 27, 2026 11:53am
kowtow

Twyford is such a useful idiot.

How quickly he forgets or indeed wilfully ignores how he was literally jeered off the stage at an Auckland hate fest and had to be escorted out by a posse of police for safety from the baying mob.

We no longer have a domestic rules based order ( thanks to idiots like him)
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March 27, 2026 11:43am
- Paulus
  
  Part of what is now being identified as Anarchy.
  May well get worse before November.
  
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  March 27, 2026 3:12pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360956410/grossly-excessive-immigration-lawyer-charged-77000-visa-and-job

This week’s example of scum who prey on their fellow men.
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March 27, 2026 11:55am
- greybeard
  
  And another one:
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360956972/restaurant-ordered-pay-170k-after-exploitation-migrant-workers
  It’s in the blood.
  
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  March 27, 2026 3:03pm
MCōs

I saw an article a couple of days ago about an English chap who was being awarded a George Cross for preventing a guy setting off a huge bomb in a hospital.
He was in hospital for some illness and saw the guy clearly agitated so started talking to him, found out his intentions, saw the bomb and talked him down. Even gave him a hug .
He’d managed to ring emergency services and live stream proceedings.
The would be bomber was arrested and jailed for 36yrs.
After I read all that I thought, would I be able to do something like that?
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March 27, 2026 12:13pm
- Pope Punctilious II
  
  A question we should all ask ourselves, MCos.
  
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  March 27, 2026 12:38pm
- David Garrett
  
  MCos: Here, the would be bomber would probably have got home D..
  
  Pope: Indeed…part of my huge admiration for the Bomber Boys of WW II is that I seriously doubt whether I could have done what they did…night after night.
  
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  March 27, 2026 4:30pm
  - MCōs
    
    My uncle was one of those bombers.
    He sailed out of Auckland at 10am 31-October 1942 and arrived in San Francisco about three weeks later “Everyone as excited as schoolchildren”
    Never saw his family back in Timaru again
    They trained in Edmonton before heading to various bases around the north of England.
    On 22-June 1944 his crew took off from Chelveston air base at 13.01 in a Halifax and were shot down near Laon
    My grandparents received a long heartbreaking letter from the wife of his leader saying how much ‘Kiwi’ was liked by those around him.
    A contrast to the perfunctory communications from Wellington that I have in a box somewhere.
    He’s never been forgotten. Many of our family have visited his gravesite in France
    
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    March 27, 2026 5:41pm
    - David Garrett
      
      MCos: you are very right to be proud of your uncle…and the prick who downticked your comment – and sadly there will probably be more – is a gutless worm
      
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      March 27, 2026 5:53pm
- imalwaysright
  
  MCos,
  The fact that you are wondering if you would step up in a crisis shows you are in the right frame of mind.
  You would probably surprise yourself.
  
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  March 27, 2026 7:01pm
Jethrod

There is a testimonial for Chris Luxon, by Matt Horncastle, a co-founder of Williams Corp. All positive.
I can’t generate a link, cos don’t have X, but worth having a read.

[Mod, is this the link you wanted to post?]

https://x.com/matt_horncastle/status/2037046549696463070
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March 27, 2026 12:38pm
- Jethrod
  
  Absolutely correct Mr/Ms Moderator. Thank you.
  
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  March 27, 2026 1:12pm
Swifty

I wonder if lefties have any pause for thought on reading this and similar news recently – or will they just continue to treat NZ business as a dog to be whipped, a walnut tree to be beaten, a goose to be plucked to within an inch of its life.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/companies/retail/heinz-watties-confirms-closure-of-christchurch-dunedin-and-auckland-plants/QCYK3MJ7C5H73JFPIOEJHDSVMA/

And let’s not forget how they sneer at businesses with even a hint of pay inequity, gender or racial, then they are Nazis, out and out misogynists and racists as well as greedy capitalist robber barons.

Well, lefties, we’ll have a lot more closures to look forward to with pay equity and ‘fair pay’ legislation among other lefty stupidity.
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March 27, 2026 4:34pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  I don’t think they mastered “connect the dots” during their inculcation.
  
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  March 27, 2026 7:04pm
TripeWryter

David Garrett:
Thanks for your correction and your ‘spot on’.
Don’t apologise for your pedantry.
I was a newspaper sub-editor for 20 years, which was Pedants’ Paradise. I appreciate it.
Cheers …
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March 27, 2026 5:45pm
Jack5

James Grenon has yet again lifted his stake in NZME, owner of the Herald and ZB Radio, this time from 35,694,802 shares to 37,474,925.

As at 20 February, the biggest shareholder was Citicorp Nominees wilth 39,916,666, according to the NZME web site.

NZME’s chairman, Steven Joyce, has also doubled his holding of NZME shares, from 50,965 to 100,965.

The company’s holding its annual shareholder meeting at 3pm on Wednesday, 22 April.

NZME director Catherine Parsons has increased her shares from zero to 20,000.
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March 27, 2026 5:47pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360957114/timaru-high-school-teacher-used-aliases-and-secrecy-hide-sexual-relationships-two-students
I notice the article refers to the teacher as “he” and “him”, not the more popular “they”. I wonder why.
It also names him as “Sam Mitchell Bocock”.
OK…..
As it is a girls’ school you could assume that the accused was a male but these days, that could be a mistake.
Nice of them to clear it up for us.
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March 27, 2026 5:50pm
- Ghost
  
  seriously? That’s what you take from an article like this.
  
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  March 27, 2026 6:03pm
  - greybeard
    
    What I take from this article is that Stuff is not averse to using pronouns and adjectives and names when there is a white male involved in some issue but when there is the faintest suggestion of other ethnicities and genders then they revert to “Them” “They” ” etc”.
    As you well know.
    
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    March 27, 2026 6:13pm
    - Ghost
      
      a teacher used their position to have sex with students, and you want to use it for this, grow up
      
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      March 27, 2026 6:21pm
      - Jack5
        
        This is the second case of an indigenous-language teacher having sexual relations with secondary school girls.
        
        This is the earlier case, which was in Christchurch:
        
        https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/top/493108/teacher-struck-off-after-grooming-and-sexual-relationship-with-student-at-private-girls-school
        
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        March 27, 2026 9:17pm
Swifty

This is the Palestinian terrorism Phil Twyford would willingly and happily import into New Zealand:

https://x.com/eyakoby/status/2037348360009421284?s=46

Just unbelievable that the US has let this get so bad.

Time to end all Islamic migration to the west and start the remigration of those eligible.
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March 27, 2026 6:02pm
Ghost

No, Move on, stop trying to bring life back to this

Winston Peters has committed $15 million to completing the rebuild of Christ Church Cathedral if New Zealand First is part of the next government.

Article
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March 27, 2026 6:11pm
- greybeard
  
  Well what a surprise !
  Just what sort of voter is he trying to ensnare?
  Who in Christchurch, with strong positive feelings about a new Cathedral paid for at someone else’s expense, would be potential NZF voters ?
  1. Protestants
  2. Mature
  3. Financially secure
  4. Averse to immigration
  5. Investors in primary industries
  6. Historical links to Canterbury
  7. White ( but open to maori investment if it benefits them personally : e.g. Ngai Tahu effect )
  
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  March 27, 2026 6:20pm
- Swifty
  
  This opens us up to funding mosques – if we’re not doing that already.
  
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  March 27, 2026 7:19pm
- AitchW
  
  The Anglican Church owns literally millions of dollars of property in NZ, probably hundreds of millions. Why can it not put a hand in its extremely deep pocket and pay for the restoration itself?
  Perhaps the interference of the late Jim Anderton and his ilk forcing it to rebuild an identical replacement didn’t help…
  
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  March 28, 2026 9:03am
Swifty

Has Hipkins lied once again?

https://x.com/riverfreedom22/status/2037363313278087279?s=46

I thought he said just this week that he never gave medical advice.
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March 27, 2026 7:17pm
Jack5

Stuff tonight continues its campaign against Chris Luxon.

It’s sneering at the PM spending three hours at the opening of the new Christchurch stadium rather than talking about the Trump-Iran fuel crisis.

A snippet:

” …while Luxon was getting his stadium tour, Anthony Albanese was hosting a briefing to tell his citizens he was working around the clock to shield them from global uncertainty.”

What’sAlbanese doing? Pumping at service stations for car queues? No, his help is yakety-yak.

Christchurch used to be a stronghold for readers of Stuff’s strongest publication, the Christchurch Press

Here we appreciate a Christchurch old boy like Luxon who’s Prime Minister attending the opening of this stadium that cost nearly $700 million.

The garbage:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360957126/making-leader-or-prime-minister-missing-action
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March 27, 2026 8:48pm
Jack5

z
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March 27, 2026 9:13pm

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